What software should I buy for USER FRIENDLY- editing for my digital photographs?

Question

I see photoshop for $100-$150 & some otheres- I want some thing EASY to use yet be GOOD- have lots of techniques ... I do NOT print my own photos- so- do I save them to my computer- then send to a place like snapfish? kodak?

Answer 1

Of the main ones, none are really user friendly. But Photoshop Elements 6 or 7 would be the simplest and give the best bang for your $. Photoshop CS3 or CS4 are great but have a LOT more features and really are more than the average photo hobbist needs. I do suggest you get a good book, that will help you learn the program. Scott Kelby writes several. He writes so that the average person can understand it, not a computer guru liek a lot of them are written. He gives you different options for similar techniques and tells when one will work better than the other, and that is very helpful for most. I use CS3 myself, but my boys use Elements and they love it, and have fun just playing and trying new things, and that is one of the things I teach in my workshops, is that you have to play with it and try new things, to find out what you like.



Also keep in mind if you are doing any color correction you want to make sure your monitor is profiled and calibrated, so then what you see is a deep red is really that color. Thus when you send it to a good lab, and you tell them NO Color Correction, you will get what you sent them. Unless you tell them No Color Correction, they will run it thru their Auto adjustment program, and set it to what the average person would like and want... I dont know is Snapfish even allows that option, as they are one of the cheaper labs. Costco does, and gives great results if you are a member. Mpix is not bad. I use Bay Photo for all my large prints and or exhibits I do. They have great quality and their prices are very competative. Check them out.



Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Asenashop.com has a great price for Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Windows at a price of $69.99. Most online websites are charging the $100-150 you mentioned, but you can but it a lot less from Asenashop. I've been using Adobe Photoshop for awhile and refuse to use anything else. It's the easiest digital photograph editor out in the market. Here's the link to take a look at it: http://www.asenashop.com/ivn/pr-0/13309.html.

Answer 3

Yup, there are a lot of free options out there. One program you may want to check out is Zoner Photo Studio 13. I know they have a 30 day trial going on. What I like about this program is that I can edit my pictures and upload them to Picasa, Flickr and Facebook. It's not as heavy as photoshop, but you can use quite a few photoshop plugins.



btw...where did you find photoshop for $100-$150...legally? :)

Answer 4

You don't even need to buy editing software these days. Photoshop may be the industry standard, but buying it doesn't mean you'll know how to use it...

You could look at Photoshop Elements if you really want editing software with the Adobe brand.

I used the GIMP for years before I used Photoshop, best thing is it's free. You can download it at http://www.gimp.org/

The other thing I can suggest to you is to download Picasa, which is aimed at photographers, and is also free from Google.

http://picasa.google.com/

Answer 5

Class Book

Answer 6

Picasa is very good, very close to Photoshop, but it is free. You just download

it to your computer and then you have the options to do editing as you see fit.



One of the best features of using Picasa is that it is very simple and easy to use.

Even a person who is new to computers could start this up and pick up on it very easily.



Picasa is the way to go for cheap and easy photo editing.

Answer 7

Hello,

I found a free download of Picasa here http://bit.ly/1p6mgXJ



Everything you need to manage your photos is Picasa.

It's the best choice.

Hope it helps.

Answer 8

Irfanview for light work. Gimp for heavy duty grinds-not user friendly but gets the work done.

Answer 9

Photoscape is pretty intuitive after you get a chance to explore it.

Answer 10

Best photo-editing software for mostAdobe Photoshop Elements 7





*Est. $80

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Reviews say Adobe Photoshop Elements just keeps getting better, holding its lead over Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 -- partly for ease of use. This latest version adds even more editing tools, including a retouching brush for… changing part of an image, plus ways to consolidate the best parts of several photos into one. Photoshop Elements 7 works with Windows XP/Vista. The previous version, Photoshop Elements 6 (*est. $80), remains current for Mac OS X users and also gets good reviews.



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Expert & User Review Sources:



PC Magazine: This preview of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 (beta) doesn't rate it, but praises the additional features (including some web and ...



Which? magazine: Comparing 18 photo-editing programs, editors at this U.K. equivalent to Consumer Reports give Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 top ...



PC World: Reviewing the beta version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, Cullen "finds much to like," noting new web integration and the ...



Macworld: This enthusiastic review praises the features in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac, but doesn't compare it with any other ...



Popular Photography: In this brief preview of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, Debbie Grossman praises its "smart brush" feature, plus the way the program ...



TopTenReviews .com: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 wins top ranking compared with 12 other photo-editing software programs for beginners and intermediate ...



Amazon .com: Over 90 owner-written reviews give Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 a reasonably high average score -- the same as the earlier Elements ...

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for $ 96 .97 DiscountMou- ntainSoftwa- re



for $ 87 .00 VioSoftware- .com



for $ 119 .99



Free photo editor and organizerGoogle Picasa 3





Free

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Though Google Picasa started more as a photo organizer, Picasa 3 has added more sophisticated editing tools that may well be all you need. The web integration is another plus, making it easy to synchronize edited photos… with social networking sites, blogs and personal websites. It's available for Mac and Linux computers as well as Windows.



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PC Magazine: This enthusiastic review covers Picasa 3 before the Mac version became available, but still praises its image management and ...



Download .com: Editors give Picasa 3 a perfect five-star rating on all counts: organizing, editing and sharing photos. The brief review notes ...



Arstechnica .com: This review praises Picasa 3 for its synchronization with Google Albums, improved image editing and special features such as face ...



About .com: About .com's guide to graphics software gives Picasa 3 a near-perfect rating, highlighting its many advantages (including its ...



Consumer Reports: This rather dated report compares an earlier version of Google Picasa with two other free photo-editing programs, five software ...

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Free photo-editing softwareGIMP 2.6





Free

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GIMP 2.6 provides such advanced editing tools that it's often recommended as a free alternative to costly Photoshop software. Reviews praise this latest version as easier to use, though like any advanced software, GIMP… has a steep learning curve. Since it's open-source software, it's compatible with Linux as well as Windows and Mac operating systems.



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Download .com: Download .com's editors give GIMP a perfect five-star rating, saying its developers have succeeded in making it easier to use, and ...



PC World: This brief review says The GIMP 2.6 compares favorably to Adobe Photoshop for professional photo-editing tools. Of the 200 or so ...



Bright Hub .com: Although this anonymous writer lacks the automatic credibility of someone writing for a site like PC World, this review of The ...



PC Magazine: In this review of a slightly earlier version of GIMP, the software gets a good rating, with editors praising its versatility but ...



Which? magazine: The U.K.'s Which? magazine includes GIMP 2.4 in its unbiased testing, naming it one of the "five best buys." However, it ranks ...



About .com: Sue Chastain, About .com's guide to graphics software, recommends 10 free photo-editing programs, ranking GIMP second but without ...

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Pro-level photo editor and image managerAdobe Photoshop Lightroom 2